Technical University of Cluj-Napoca - UTCN (reviews)

A lot of one’s academic achievements come down to personal effort and interest in the subjects being taught. A university is supposed to facilitate that process, however this university falls short in a few areas:
– Communication Channels: A major drawback of the university is its heavy reliance on the website announcement board for communication, rendering student email addresses practically redundant.
– Class Recording Policy: During the pandemic, the ability for students to record classes proved highly beneficial for exam preparation. However, the university’s lack of clear rules regarding class recording indicates a missed opportunity for a simple and valuable solution. Implementing guidelines for recording lectures would greatly enhance the learning experience for students.
– Support for International Students: Regrettably, the university falls short of providing adequate support for international students. During my time as a student, our series consisted of approximately 10 international students, but since the lectures were not conducted in English, they faced a lot of difficulties in understanding the course material, resulting in all of them dropping out within the first semester.
– Professionalism of Staff: The use of personal email addresses by staff members for official communication is unprofessional and jeopardizes the university’s reputation. Requiring the use of official email accounts would enhance professionalism and secure communication channels.
– Security Risks and Data Protection: The university’s internal website poses significant security risks, potentially compromising students’ personal data. Addressing these concerns through robust security measures and data protection protocols is crucial for safeguarding student privacy.

This being said, there are also areas where the university has shown progress:
– Quality of Teaching: The majority of teachers at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca demonstrate dedication and passion for their subjects. While exceptions exist, the overall commitment of the teaching staff positively contributes to the learning experience.
– Investment in Infrastructure: The university’s investment in new laboratory buildings and infrastructure improvements is commendable. These efforts enhance the learning environment and provide students with valuable research opportunities.

The curriculum is pretty decent. I think they have way too many classes, but overall they’re not bad. A lot of laboratories and practical experience, which is nice. There are a lot of Erasmus agreements, Bosch teaching their self-driving cars course, entrepreneurship classes. Pretty diverse extracurricular themes.
EUROAVIA was the student association that I loved the most because they had a lot of interesting events. Visiting the Air Traffic Control Tower at Cluj Airport, the military base at Câmpia Turzii or the Airbus maintenance workshop, you have a lot of aviation-related events to go to.

It is a faculty in which you encounter many difficulties, but it also has many benefits
A major problem would be the lack of passion and interest of some teachers who prefer to let the students learn “from the classes” instead of teaching them the subject

In recent years, attempts have been made to modernize the current buildings, expand with new buildings and purchase modern equipment. There are positive signs that the university wants to modernize.
UTCN has great potential to become a successful model of modern technical education.